Life In Death
by ScreenwriterKitteh
Summary: The Doctor falls into another universe. Into Shrevesport, Louisiana, to be specific.
1. Chance Meeting

AN: I'll be getting back to _All Gave Some, Some Gave All_ eventually, I promise. I started on this piece for fun a couple months back. It doesn't really have a direction, the way _AGS,SGA_ does – for _AGS,SGA_, at least, I know how it's going to end, and several steps on the way there. This… I don't know where it's headed. I've got some ideas of plot points to be hit, but otherwise it's rather open ended. Suggestions are welcome – please read and review! You'd be surprised at what can give me inspiration, sometimes.

* * *

It was, in all respects, a typical night at Fangtasia. Fangbangers and Goths and tourists filled the place, weaving among the vampires. The bar was busy, Chow serving human drinks and True Blood to humans and vampires. There would probably be a few bitings in the bathrooms, as always. It didn't matter, really, so long as the police didn't raid. Pam had a new girl – she was dancing right now, before a crowd of onlookers. There was no sign of Sookie or Bill – probably for the better. He had no wish to entertain the King just now.

That is, it was a typical night at Fangtasia in all respects but one.

"I'm The Doctor, who are you?" Eric had noticed the man's approach, of course, but he hadn't thought he would actually speak to him. He had a British accent, interestingly enough.

"Eric Northman," he replied shortly. He glanced at the man – tweed jacket, bow tie, floppy hair. Combined with the accent, he was rather clearly a tourist, and an odd one at that.

"Nice to meet you, Eric Northman," the Doctor said, holding out a hand.

Eric didn't move to shake it – only watched this Doctor who didn't seem to notice the respect with which others treated the vampire. Indeed, the simple aura of power he seemed to give off, the reason those of the living who didn't know him either avoided him or groveled at his feet – the Doctor seemed to be oblivious to it. And yet, the man was quite clearly living – he was breathing, certainly, and-

As the Doctor lowered his unshaken hand, Eric's eyes narrowed slightly – so slightly that only a vampire would have noticed the change. He hadn't tried to pick out the Doctor's heartbeat until just then – all the bloodbags around him were tempting enough, without focusing on the heartbeats. This man's heartbeat was oddly difficult to distinguish, it seemed. As he realized the reason, his widening eyes would have been visible to a human.

This 'Doctor' had two heartbeats.

"What are you, Doctor?" he asked quietly. "You're not human. Not entirely."

"Just a traveler," the Doctor said mildly. "I was wondering-"

"We can talk in my office," Eric interrupted. His interest had been piqued. "Come with me."

The Doctor followed. Once they were inside, Eric shut the door and repeated, "What are you, Doctor?"

"I just told you, I'm a traveler," the Doctor said. "And I'm looking for someone I last met in Venice in 1580, long story but she's about as close as can be to being a vampire, really, except she's actually a member of an aquatic-"

Eric swiftly shoved the Doctor against the wall. "Don't talk about things you don't understand," he hissed, "and tell me what you are."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "What are _you ?" _he asked softly. "You can't be human. Humans don't have that sort of physical capability. No human is anywhere near that fast."

Eric allowed himself a fraction of a smile. "I'll tell you if you tell me," he offered.

The Doctor smiled back. "Time Lord."

"Vampire. 'Time Lord' sounds rather pompous. I've never heard of your kind before."

"And vampires didn't exist, last time I checked," the Doctor returned. "Which implies that I've either managed to fall into another universe again, or your kind is a _very_ well-kept secret."

"We were," Eric said. "Not anymore."

"Another universe it is, then." The Doctor sighed. "If you don't mind, I'll need to be heading back soon, so that-"

"How?" Eric demanded. "How could you have come from another universe? What is a Time Lord? Why haven't I heard of you in a thousand years?"

"One thousand?" the Doctor repeated. "Someone my own age, at last. To answer the first question, it's not technically supposed to be possible anymore, if that's what happened it was quite by accident and I shall have to hope I can get back. Probably a crack in space and time – I'll need to get back to my own universe to fix it, so the sooner you let me go, the better."

Eric made no move to do so. "I had two more questions, Doctor. I expect to have them answered."

The Doctor sighed. "I'm an alien – well, an alien as far as humans are concerned, anyway. Humans and their – variations." He nodded towards Eric.

"I am not human," Eric said flatly. "Now answer the third question."

"Not relevant."

"Hm." Eric emptied himself, his mind – made himself dead, as Bill had once put it. He didn't have to think about it, after a thousand years – it was just another state of mind, one in which he had even more power over any human unfortunate enough to meet his gaze. Right now, he wanted to see if this also held true for this 'Time Lord'.

"You're going to answer my questions honestly, alright?" Eric said quietly.

"Yes," said the Doctor. His gaze was almost blank – almost. Humans' faces were usually completely blank when a glamour started, or sometimes just dazedly smiling. The Doctor was rather clearly different – there was an expression of confusion on his face, slight but quite clearly there. He blinked rather more frequently than normal, and once or twice he shook his head as though trying to clear it, but his gaze remained fixed upon Eric.

Interesting.

He would start with basic things. Harmless – sort of. "Are female Time Lords called Time Ladies?"

"Time Lord is the English approximation of our native language, so it's really up to you."

"If you have two hearts, do you have twice as much blood as humans?"

"No."

A pity. "Why have I not heard of your race?"

"I'm the last one left."

He hadn't been expecting that. Secrets weren't uncommon among supernaturals – to hear that the same was true of an alien race wouldn't have been shocking. "How do you know?"

"We can feel each other," the Doctor said, tapping his head. "I was misled once before, but he's gone now."

"You were misled once before," Eric repeated. "There might be others who misled you in the same way."

The Doctor shook his head slowly. "Even if there was someone, he – they'd be disguised as a human, or as the species of whatever planet they settled on. There would be no way to pick them out from anyone else."

"He?"

"Could be male, could be female."

He could be hiding something. It wasn't an outright lie, and humans were usually direct about such things when glamoured, but this man might be able to dodge around things. Or he could be telling the truth. "So are you only disguised as a human, now?"

"Humans look like Time Lords."

"You mean Time Lords look like Humans."

"We came first."

Pompous, again. "Is there a difference, besides the two hearts?"

"Several."

He didn't go on, and Eric didn't press the matter. If he didn't have extra blood, it really wasn't his concern just now. "How did you fall into this universe?"

"In my TARDIS."

"What is a TARDIS?"

"Stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Little blue box, bigger on the inside, that can travel anywhere in time and space."

He was surprised nearly out of the glamour-state. Nearly, but not quite. Travel through all of time and space. That was certainly more than he could do. Significantly more. "Can you change the past?"

"Sometimes. Not always."

"Why not?"

"Some events are fixed points in time. Others aren't."

Curious. Eric knew that humans had various theories on how time or time travel might work, but he hadn't really cared, in the past. "How do you know which is which?"

"I can see it all."

"See what?"

"Time. Possible variations in time."

"Is that what it is to be a Time Lord?"

"Yes."

"Could I become a Time Lord?" To have that power-

"No."

"Let me use your TARDIS, then."

"No."

Eric was taken aback. That had been a command. No one turned down commands while glamoured – no human, anyway. There was, perhaps, the chance that the Doctor was only pretending to be glamoured, but that would require him to be aware of what Eric was trying to do. More importantly, while Bill wasn't old enough to notice yet, there was a little nudge in the corner of a vampire's mind when a glamour was working, and that nudge was telling Eric that this Doctor was glamoured. It just wasn't going quite as it should be.

Eric wanted to know more. The thirst for knowledge, an inherently human trait, hadn't been taken from him when he was made vampire – it had just died down as he grew older and saw more of the world than any human ever had, knew more than any human. But this was different. This was _new_. Questions poured through his mind, demanding answers.

What would happen if he drank the Doctor's blood?

Or turned him?

Could this Doctor resist his influence as a Maker?

Some supernaturals couldn't be turned, others could. The Doctor wasn't a supernatural, but an alien – one who was, apparently, normal for his species, without any magic making him the way he was. His resistance to the glamour was probably something different about his mind – something which, perhaps, could be overcome.

"What is your name?" Eric asked.

"The Doctor."

"Your true name?"

The Doctor's eyes hardened, and Eric felt the glamour end – and the Doctor groaned and clutched his head. "What was that?" he demanded. "Gave me a bloody dreadful headache, whatever it was."

"My apologies," Eric said mildly.

"No, no, no – don't talk. I need quiet."

Eric waited a few minutes, until the Doctor relaxed and straightened. "You interest me, Doctor."

"I interest a lot of people," the Doctor said. "I'm an interesting person."

"Maybe you're too interesting," Eric mused. "How long are you planning on staying in Shrevesport?"

"Oh, is that where we are? Just a day or so, then I need to hop back to my own universe if I can-"

"Any chance I could... convince you to stay longer?"

"Probably not."

"Pity. I was hoping you would stay by choice."

The threat was clear. The Doctor ran. Eric shut the door before he could get to it. The Doctor turned away from the door, glaring at Eric. "There are people who need me," the Doctor hissed.

"Also a pity. I can't say I care. Besides, you have a time machine. You can just go back and save them."

"It doesn't work like that. Time is like a big ball of wibbily wobbly, timey wimey stuff, it's not cause and effect, you can't hear about something and then go change it, not like that!"

"So even if you do get away from me, you can't prevent this from happening? Good," Eric said.

The Doctor seethed. "You do _not_ want to do this, Eric."

"Really?" Eric raised his eyebrows with a fraction of a smile. "You can't get to your TARDIS, and you certainly don't seem to be much of a threat without it."

The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. He could either pretend it was a weapon - a less than optimal solution - or maybe make the lights do something weird as a distraction, which might not work. Either way, he might have to unlock the door, if it was one of those automatically locking sorts.

The choice was taken from him almost immediately as Eric plucked it from his hands. "What's this, then? Some sort of weapon?" He pointed it at the wall, pressed the button, and laughed. "It makes light and a noise. How cute."

"Give that-" the Doctor started to say.

Eric tapped him in the head. Well, it was a tap as far as he was concerned. The Doctor crumpled.

* * *

AN: What do you all think? Please review!


	2. Captivity

Author's Note:  
Thanks to those who reviewed! Apparently, however, there was some confusion over the end of the last chapter. When the Doctor takes out his screwdriver, it is NOT for the purpose of using it as a weapon. I know full well he hates weapons. He meant to either threaten (somewhat in character, remember the jelly donut 'self-destruct button' in 'Victory of the Daleks') or - more preferably, in his view - to create a distraction. It was stupid of me not to specify that, and I have edited the chapter to correct it.

To those who asked "Why do you watch Doctor Who? You obviously hate it!" I reply: I watch Doctor Who because, in fact, I love it. The fact that the Doctor is seeing some hard times at my hands does not mean I dislike him. See my Author's Note at the end for more explanation.

* * *

When the Doctor awoke, he was in a dark room, a metal ring around his neck chained to a large gear on the ceiling. A pole – one of five – hung down beside the chain. A bucket stood nearby, as did Eric Northman.

"I would have provided food, except I don't know if you eat what humans do," Eric said mildly. "For all I know it would poison you, and I'd rather you were alive, for now."

"I eat human food," the Doctor said, trying to keep his tone light as he evaluated the situation. "Bananas are my favorite. And fish fingers and custard." It didn't look good, that was for sure. He wasn't sure exactly what the purpose of this gear-and-chain setup was, but it reminded him a little too closely of a rig for horses to turn a mill.

"Then I'll try to get some," Eric said. He paid little attention to human cuisine – with Chow in charge of the bar, he didn't even need to know what humans did to get drunk, these days. The fact that fish fingers and custard was a combination to make many squirm was neither known nor relevant to him.

The vampire made no move to leave, however, and didn't initiate any further conversation, so finally the Doctor asked, "What, exactly, do you want from me?"

"A number of things," Eric said. "I've taken your jacket, and I mean to ask you about several of the things in your abnormally large pockets, but that can wait. I want to learn more about _you, _now. Do you have human blood?"

"No," the Doctor said swiftly. "And the items are mostly detectors of various sorts, plus a biodamper and a few other insignificant things."

Eric smirked. "One of which is an emitter of ultraviolet light, which you failed to mention – disappointing. You should note, Doctor, that I am considerably more lenient towards people who don't try to hide weapons from me."

"Weapons? Nonono, not a weapon," the Doctor said quickly. "Not a weapon at all. Don't like weapons. It repelled those aquatic vampire-things I mentioned, but that's all. Honestly – I doubt it would work as a weapon, anyway. Tell me, Eric, are vampires widely known in this world?"

"Yes," Eric said slowly.

"And there are people who are afraid of you, or want to get rid of you? It only makes sense there would be, you feed on their blood after all."

"Some vampires feed on synthetic blood," Eric said, "but we do have enemies."

"Do these enemies ever use ultraviolet light against you? Humans do have the technology, unless this universe is vastly different from the one I'm used to."

There was a pause. "You believe ultraviolet light is not dangerous to us?" Eric guessed.

"Pretty much. Just a guess, mind you."

Eric vanished in a blur of motion. The Doctor sighed, then tried to make himself comfortable, without much success. It seemed he would be there for a while longer, at least.

When Eric returned, his expression was blank, but his voice had a note of respect. "You were right," he said. "I must admit that in retrospect, I am rather surprised no one had tried such a thing previously."

"Glad to be of service," the Doctor said, without much enthusiasm. "Now, if you wouldn't mind doing _me_ a small favor-"

"I'm not letting you go," Eric cut him off. "Particularly not when I've spent the past several hours growing increasingly curious as to just what your blood tastes like."

The Doctor paled. "No," he said, "No, no, bad idea-"

He was cut off by Eric's teeth in his neck.

The Doctor's blood, Eric found, tasted like infinity. Sure, it was a bit fruity, tart and sweet, and the coppery taste was a little more mild than human blood, which was odd, somewhat like tasting the milk of a goat after having been raised on that of a cow. But woven in and around that, dancing among it like stars in space – not the night sky, but the pictures the human scientists had of galaxies and suns far away – was infinity. This, then, was the blood of a being who was _old_, who had forever to live and all of time and space to see.

Eric very nearly didn't pull back in time. As it was, the Doctor was clinging to consciousness as Eric rocked back, staring at the figure before him – the plain shirt and trousers, suspenders, floppy haircut. He was trying to reconcile the body, which looked so much like the humans he fed on and largely disregarded as unimportant, with the taste of the blood lingering in his mouth, the blood which spoke of a significantly more impressive person.

* * *

The next day, when the Doctor had recovered slightly, Eric took a single glass of the Time Lord's blood to his office, calling Pam to him. "I have found myself the captor of a very interesting... person," he told his progeny. "I'd like to know what you think."

Pam took the glass, frowning with distaste. "It's _orange_." It was true – the blood had a slight orange tinge. "Is this some sort of joke?"

"Not at all," Eric said.

Pam tasted the blood, and her eyes widened. "That cannot possibly be human," she said flatly.

"It's not," Eric said. "It's an alien who looks human. He's also partially resistant to being glamoured, he's somewhere around my age, he can see time, and he has a machine which can travel throughout time and space. And, he believes he's from a universe slightly different from our own."

"Intriguing," Pam said. "Why are you telling me this? You must have a reason."

Eric smiled. "He is powerful. He has a number of technological items which may be of interest, and seems to be quite intelligent, as well as resisting my command, while glamoured, to let me use his time machine. He has wonderful blood, but I was considering a slightly different use for him."

Pam raised her eyebrows. "You could just as easily kill him that way, you realize."

"I know," Eric agreed. "I think it's worth the risk. Do you?"

"You said he's resistant to glamour," Pam said. "How do you know you'd be able to control him, as his Maker? The last thing we need is an uncontrolled newborn with a time machine."

Eric nodded. "He's resistant, but not immune – it might only be something different about his mind, something I could get around. I mean to try to work around that, before anything else."

"You'll break him trying," Pam warned.

"I'll be careful," Eric said. "I do not think he is as easily damaged as a human would be."

"Do you know where you could find any more like him, if you _do_ break him?"

"He says he is the last of his race."

"Are you sure he was telling the truth?"

"It was while I was glamouring him. He dodged a question or two, but he didn't seem capable of telling an outright lie."

"Hm. How did you find him, anyway?"

Eric smirked. "He walked up to me and asked whether I had seen a woman from 1580 who was the closest to a vampire as exists in the world, but is actually aquatic. He didn't seem scared of me, which piqued my interest, and he had two heartbeats."

"Two hearts? Does that mean twice as much of that lovely blood?"

"Unfortunately not, apparently."

"That's too bad. Are we going to keep him around for a while, at least?"

Eric smiled. "That is my intent."

And so began Eric's experimentation with glamouring a Time Lord.

* * *

A month later, King Bill Compton visited Fangtasia. "Pam," he said. "Where is Eric?"

"Downstairs," she replied. The more tempting reply of 'None of your business' wouldn't have gone over quite as well.

"Why?" Bill asked. "He never goes down there unless he has a prisoner or wants to hide."

"He's been down there every night for the past month," she said. "Ask him yourself."

Bill went down the stairs, in time to a crow of triumph from Eric.

"What's going on down here?" Bill demanded, as Eric rose and the chained figure slumped to the ground with a moan.

"I just successfully glamoured an alien," Eric said.

Bill raised his eyebrows. "That looks like a human to me."

"Listen to his heart," Eric suggested. "He's got two of them, and his blood is delicious."

Bill listened, then nodded. "I see. He was difficult to glamour, then?"

Eric nodded. "He dodged some questions, resisted orders, and one question in particular would always bring him out of the glamour. I have just forced him to follow my orders and answer that question."

"What question, exactly?" Bill asked.

"I asked what his real name was."

"And what is it?"

"A secret." Eric smiled. "It's really not important. He calls himself the Doctor, and it would seem that is the name all others know him by."

Bill knelt by the man slumped on the ground, looking at him closely. "What's wrong with him?"

"He gets a headache from being glamoured," Eric said. "Apparently it got worse the closer I got to a true glamour, so I'd guess it was pretty bad this time.

"I see." Bill straightened. "I came because I heard you intend to resign from your position as sheriff."

"That's right," Eric agreed. "I believe Pam could take my position, but the decision is, of course, up to you."

"Why?" Bill demanded. "Unless I have greatly misjudged you, you are not the type to simply relinquish power."

Eric smiled. "This alien has the capability to travel anywhere in time and space, and I intend to – convince him – to let me travel with him."

Bill raised his eyebrows. "Impressive. I'll leave you to it, then, ex-sheriff Northman."

Eric nodded. "Good bye, your majesty," he said as Bill went back up the stairs.

As soon as the Louisiana king was out of sight, Eric turned back to his captive.

* * *

Author's Note:  
And there you have it. Based on the response last time, I feel like I should mention a few things about this chapter.

1. The concept for this fic was something I came up with before seeing season 4 of True Blood, in which ultraviolet light in particular is shown to have an effect on vampires. In this fic, it does not - it is the particular combination of radiation which comes from the Earth's sun which harms them, not that I'm even going to attempt to come up with an evolutionary reason.

2. This probably looks like more Doctor-bashing. Like I'm trying to put the Doctor through heck because I hate him. It's not. The Doctor is wonderful. I'd take him over Eric any time. I do not write fanfics because I'd like to be or to meet one of my characters. I do not write in order to see my characters live happily ever after. I write because I like to explore characters. I want to see, "What would happen if-?". I put my characters in a room and say, "GO!". And this is what happens. _All Gave Some, Some Gave All_ is actually one of the very few stories I've started with an idea of how it will end. This one? I have no clue. I've got half of chapter 3 written up, a vague idea of how the rest of that chapter will go, and from there I've got next to nothing.

In summary: Some people write as tourists, wanting to see fantastic things. Some write as matchmakers, wanting to ship a pairing. Some write as loyal admirers, wanting to see their favorite character triumph. I write as a mad scientist. I want to see what happens.

I hope that makes sense.

5. I feel like Bill might be a little out of character - I don't know him as well as I know Eric or the Doctor. My apologies.


End file.
